Author: Iola Goulton

22 October 2024

Bookish Question #354 | What’s a favourite book quote?

I try and find at least one great quote from every book I read and review, and post that in my book review.

I’ve also been posting the first lines from books as part of #FirstLineFriday for many years.

My favourite quotes fall into three main categories:

Quotes that amuse me (which don’t always make great standalone quotes as they rely on the surrounding context)
Quotes that speak to me
Favourite Bible verses (of course)

Here are a few of my favourites from the last two years … starting with the funny ones.

Then moving onto the more serious quotes …

What about you? Do you have any favourite book quotes? Share one in the comments.

21 October 2024

Book Review | An Honorable Deception (Imposters #3) by Roseanna M White

An Honorable Deception brings back the Imposters, the secret private investigation agency created by Lord Yates Fairfax and his sister, Lady Marigold, their cousin Graham, and Gemma, the daughter of the family’s former steward.

The story starts with Yates in the church, meeting his prospective client under cover of the confessional box. But their meeting doesn’t go as planned, and his new client is shot as she leaves the church.

Yates takes Lady Alethia home to keep her safe, and places her in the care of his sister as they investigate who could have harmed Lady Alethia and the whereabouts of her missing ayah (nanny).

The story takes us straight back to the Fairfax family home in Northumberland, which gives us a chance to meet the menagerie again

That’s a lot of fun.

Lord Yates Merritt, next-door neigbour Lady Lavinia Hemming, and client Lady Alethia Barremore are all point of view characters, which provides the romantic tension: who will Yates choose? This could have been really awkward, but White handled it brilliantly and I was completely satisfied with the result.

And there was also the suspense element of the plot: who has kidnapped the ayah? Who shot Lady Alethia? What is the secret she’s hiding? These questions were all answered with perfect timing and the perfect amount of information.

Yes, I loved An Honorable Deception.

I loved Yates from A Beautiful Disguise, where we first met Lavinia. I love the characters and the way they mix skill, intelligence, humour, and a genuine Christian faith. I loved the way the romance worked out perfectly, even if it didn’t work out the way I’d originally anticipated.

An Honourable Deception is the third book in Roseanne M White’s The Imposters series, and I hope weget to see more of Yates, Marigold, and the rest of the Imposters. If you’re read White’s other historical romances set in England, you’ll recognize a few of the characters who pop up toward the end of An Honourable Deception, like Barclay. I’d love to read a crossover series Upstairs Downstairs or Downton Abbey style with Yates, Barclay, Mr. V, and their associates … hint hint.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for reivew.

About Roseanna M White

Roseanna M. White pens her novels beneath her Betsy Ross flag, with her Jane Austen action figure watching over her. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two children, editing and designing, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna has a slew of historical novels available, ranging from biblical fiction to American-set romances to her new British series. She lives with her family in West Virginia.

Find Roseanna M White online at:

About An Honorable Deception

As the leader of elite private investigative firm the Imposters, Lord Yates Fairfax has made an art of concealing his identity. But when his newest client, the beautiful Lady Alethia Barremore, is shot while leaving their meeting, he throws caution to the wind and rushes to her aid. Though Lady Alethia thought she was only looking for her missing former nanny, she has clearly stumbled upon dangerous secrets.

Lady Lavinia Hemming suspects there’s more to her oldest friends than they’re willing to admit, and when she stumbles upon the truth that they’re the Imposters, she recruits herself into the firm. Happy as she is for the distraction of an investigation, Lavinia’s own family secrets continue to haunt her. And the one thing to bring laughter back into her life–her friendship with Yates–lands her squarely on the bad side of her best friend, his sister.

Tormented by a past that she doesn’t dare to voice aloud, Lady Alethia does what she can to help her handsome host, her new friends, and the investigators. But as clues lead them deeper into the darkest of society’s secrets, Alethia, Yates, and Lavinia soon learn anew that the gentry isn’t always noble . . . and truth isn’t always honorable.

Find An Honorable Deception online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

18 October 2024

First Line Friday #361 | A Love Worth Waiting For by Lara Van Hulzen

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m quoting from the next book on my to-read-and-review list, which is A Love Worth Waiting For, the first book in Lara Van Hulzen’s new Nearlake series.

I love the cover! Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About A Love Worth Waiting For

Sadie Woods leads a structured life, and she likes it that way. As owner of her family’s antique store in the town where she grew up, she is surrounded by history. The past is full of intrigue and rich memories, while the present has bills piling up, her aunt battling breast cancer, and a future full of unknowns that have her grasping for hope.

Former professional football star James Larsen just wants a quiet life for himself and his teenage daughter, Maddie. Being Deputy Sheriff in the town he calls home is just right. In the wake of his wife’s death, he’s able to heal without too much attention, and life has become a comfortable routine he appreciates.

When Sadie’s shop is supposedly broken into, and James is the police officer called to the scene, the faded memories of attending high school together stir a connection neither of them is prepared for. While Sadie is knee-deep in trying to save her store, James is hesitant to let another woman into his and his daughter’s lives.

Both hesitant to trust, Sadie and James must brave a path that includes believing there is a love worth waiting for.

Find A Love Worth Waiting For online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

15 October 2024

Bookish Question #353 | What’s the longest book you’ve ever read?

Probably one of the multi-book anthologies I’ve bought on Kindle. Some of them have included 20 books. However, I think that’s 20 books in one volume, not a single book.

On that basis, the longest single title I’ve read is probably War and Peace. I checked a couple of “longest book” lists online, and War and Peace is apparently 1225 pages long, or 587,000 words.

The longest Christian book I can think of reading is Glastonbury by Donna Fletcher Crowe, which is 1134 pages long. That may or may not be longer than War and Peace: bigger fonts make for longer books regardless of word count.

What about you? What’s the longest book you’ve ever read?

14 October 2024

Book Review | Wrapped Up In You by Jennifer Carr

Nash is about to head to college on a baseball scholarship when a senior prank goes wrong. His punishment is community service for the local youth club, where he is assigned to teach music—a punishment that turns out to be life-changing (in a good way).

Cassidy is Nash’s OurSpace pen pal (are people still called pen pals if they communicate solely through social media messaging, and using a handle rather than their actual names?). She’s a couple of years younger than Nash, and is pursuing a music career at the behest of her pushy mother.

The two hide behind the anonymity of social media to share their true selves, and I loved the way the author brought them together online while they lived their separate lives.

But when OurSpace goes the way of MySpace, their friendship effectively ends because they have no other sway of contacting each other—they haven’t even shared their real names.

That, of course, can’t be the end of the story …

The two meet in real life a few years later when they both earn a spot on a reality TV show searching out America’s next country music star. Of course, the reader knows who they are, but they don’t … (and that would potentially be a spoiler if it wasn’t included in the book description).

Anyway, that gives the story plenty of forward tension as we wait for Nash and Cassidy to discover what we already know.

The story takes place over longer time scale than most novels—years, rather than weeks or months—but that fits with the story, given their ages when the story started. It fit the characters and the story, and anything faster would have felt wrong.

I loved this story.

I loved the slow burn of the romance. I loved the longer timescale, and the way it gave readers the chance to watch Nash and Cassidy grow and mature, and turned what could have been an average young adult romance into a more powerful story.

Wrapped Up In You is the second book in a series. I haven’t read the first (Fall When You’re Ready) but didn’t think I missed anything.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Jennifer Carr

Having always enjoyed books, writing, and daydreaming, Jennifer wanted to know what it would feel like to combine the three and write a book. Once she started writing, everything changed. Within a matter of months, she had multiple projects started and found a love for writing in a way she never knew was possible.

Married to her childhood best friend and the mom of a creative daughter, Jennifer enjoys the quiet life on their farm in Alabama, baking, and reading romance novels.

Find Jennifer Carr online at:

Website | Facebook

About Wrapped Up In You

Nash Montgomery is always up for a good time. But when a senior prank goes too far, his baseball scholarship is put at risk, threatening the future everyone expects him to follow. The consequences earn him community service at a local youth center where he discovers a passion that defies the path he thought had been laid out for him.

Cassidy is a talented musician trapped under the weight of her mother’s ambitious dreams for her. Desperate to carve out her own identity, she struggles to find her voice amidst the noise of others’ expectations.

Their worlds collide in Nashville when both earn a spot on Real American Country, a new reality TV competition for aspiring country stars. As they navigate the pressures of the spotlight, they’ll have to decide if they’re chasing their own dreams—or someone else’s. And along the way, they’ll discover that getting wrapped up in the right person can bring out the best in themselves.

Wrapped Up in You is a heartwarming tale about breaking free from the expectations of others, finding love, and discovering that the best path is the one you create for yourself.

(As Christians, we say the best path is the one God creates for us. That’s my one possible criticism of Wrapped Up In You: it’s clean young adult romance rather than Christian fiction.)

Find Wrapped Up In You online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

11 October 2024

First Line Friday #360 | The Relationtrip by Elana Johnson

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m quoting from The Relationtrip (no, that’s not a typo. Yes, that’s a clever title!) by Elana Johnson. It’s a friends-to-more romance, and that is one of my favourite tropes (which you may have guessed if you’re read my debut novel, Always By My Side.

Anyway, back to The Relationtrip: here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About The Relationtrip

Question: What do a reclusive author and an outgoing real estate agent have in common?

Answer: Nothing.

But fate brought them together on a vacation five years ago, and as Logan and Sloane prepare for their annual get-together, there are sparks flying between them.

Sloane:

When Logan Murphy, my accidental best friend, calls to say our annual mid-winter trip has to be “redone,” he’s already got the solution.

Belize. An adults-only resort, and we leave in two days.

I’m giddy with excitement, because I need this trip more than I can express. When I see Murph standing in the airport, my heart twitches to a beat it hasn’t since my fiancé left me to tell our friends and family that he couldn’t make it to the wedding.

So it’s a short-lived twitch, because I’m never going to get into the dating boxing ring again—and least of all with my best friend.

Logan:

I’ve never told Sloane what I do for a living, and she doesn’t know how I feel about her either. But I want her to know all of my secrets.

I want my best friend in my life more than once a year, and I’ve already started penning a happily-ever-after for the two of us.

This year, I tell myself, as my crush on the vibrant woman is at least two years old now.

If only I knew how to tell her…

This is a standalone, slow-burn travel romance that will make you smile, gasp, and cheer for Logan and Sloane as they figure out who they are…and who they want—at home or on vacation.

Find The Relationtrip online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

8 October 2024

Bookish Question #352 | Have you ever stopped reading a series of novels?

I’d like to say I finish every series I start. I’d like to say I finish every book I start, but neither statement is true.

There are three main reasons I don’t finish a series:

1. The Publisher

Sometimes, a publisher decides not to complete publishing a series. I’ve had this happen a couple of times, and it’s really frustrating as a reader. In one I remember, the second book in the series ended just as the Berlin Wall went up, leaving the hero and heroine on opposite sides of the wall. I was so annoyed that I stopped buying fiction from that publisher unless the complete series was already available. They stopped publishing fiction soon after.

I know some readers prefer not to buy books in a series, especially a trilogy, until all the books have been published so they know they’ll get the full story arc. I also know this can become a self-fulfilling prophesy: if a publisher doesn’t see sufficient sales for the first book in a series, they might cancel the contract and not publish the full series.

While I can see the publisher’s point (they need to make a profit), their actions are counter-productive: every time a publisher cancels an incomplete series, they increase the number of readers who won’t buy books in an incomplete series.

(But that’s only for traditional publishers: self-published authors will probably finish the series because they know a book is forever, and they will increase their readthrough and their profits when the series is complete).

2. Boredom

There are, unfortunately, series I’ve stopped reading because of boredom—usually because the series has gone on so long that it’s no longer about the characters who originally caught my interest.

3. Lack of Knowledge

The other reason I don’t complete reading a series is because I didn’t see a new book was available.

An easy way to make sure this doesn’t happen is to sign up for an author’s email newsletter – most authors have a newsletter now, especially self-published authors. Yes, some email too often, but it does make sure I don’t miss out on a book I wanted to read.

What about you? Have you ever stopped reading a series of novels before the end?

Do you remember why?

7 October 2024

Book Review | The Burning of Rosemont Abbey by Naomi Stephens

The opening of The Burning of Rosemont Abbey hooked me immediately: like many non-twins, I’ve always had a fascination for twins … and for their reputed mysterious connection.

This connection gives the mystery a unique twist.

Louisa Everly knows her brother is dead, which means she knows Inspector Malcolm Sinclar is mistaken in considering Paul to be the major suspect for the arson at the abbey. If Paul wasn’t involved, then who burned the abbey? And who murdered Paul?

Louisa feels she can’t tell anyone that she knows Paul is dead—they’ll simply think she is hysterical and won’t believe her. It’s a clever plot point and executed well.

That original premise gives the story a strong forward motion and kept me turning the virtual pages.

Louisa works alone and—reluctantly—with Inspector Sinclair, Paul’s childhood best friend. To Malcolm’s annoyance, she makes several discoveries that the police couldn’t have made, given they had already identified Paul as their key and only suspect. I liked the way Louisa thought and acted. She made intelligent deductions, in the spirit of Miss Marple and other famous fictional lady detectives.

Unfortunately, the story was marred by Americanisms that didn’t make sense in the context of the setting (England in 1956). For example, what colour are “eyes the color of money”? If you’re American, you might think the answer is obvious: green. But the character is not American (and nor is this reader). British money in 1956 was almost all the colours of the rainbow—red and orange and green and blue and purple and grey (but not yellow). Lines like this brought me out of the story.

I didn’t find the ending entirely satisfying or believable.

Sure, the evildoer has been set up as a character with some … let’s call them personality defects. The story did keep me guessing whodunit, which is essential in a murder good mystery. But I didn’t see the motivation for the crime, which affected the story’s overall credibility.

However, I have often found that I’ve read the end of mystery novels too quickly, which has sometimes meant that I’ve missed key points (like the character’s motivation). I did re-read the last quarter, and while that did make the motivation clearer, it still lacked the depth and sophistication I’d expected.

Overall, the characterisation was excellent, the plot was unique and engaging (except for the big reveal at the end), and the writing was solid, but the Americanisms were distracting and the ending didn’t deliver for me.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Naomi Stephens

Naomi Stephens is a bookworm turned teacher turned writer. She received a B.A. in English from Concordia University in Ann Arbor and an M.A. in English from Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

Her first novel, Shadow among Sheaves, was an Inspy Award shortlist contender and winner of the 2020 Carol Award in Debut Fiction. In bookstores, Naomi gravitates towards 19th-century British novels—the broodier the better (i.e., Jane Eyre)—but she can also be found perusing the young adult, mystery, and fantasy sections. Anything that keeps her turning pages past midnight!

Though she’s called many places home over the years, she currently lives in New York with her husband, her two children, and a rascal of a dog named Sherlock. When not writing or having adventures with her family, she can be found drinking tea, practicing photography, and pining for London.

Find Naomi Stephens online at:

Website | Instagram

About The Burning of Rosemont Abbey

Everyone in Wilbeth Green has something to hide, but she’s about to uncover their secrets.

1956: In a quiet English village, the smoldering ruins of Rosemont Abbey have set the residents’ tongues wagging, and everyone is quick to accuse troublemaker Paul Everly of the crime of arson. Paul has vanished without a trace, leaving only his plucky twin sister, Louisa, certain of his innocence. Fueling her conviction is an inexplicable connection–she felt her twin’s death an hour before the abbey went up in flames.

Armed with nothing but her wit and her keen sense of intuition, Louisa embarks on her own investigation, challenging the dubious townspeople and the disdain of her aunt and uncle. Even Inspector Malcolm Sinclair, once Paul’s closest friend, warns Louisa to abandon her pursuit. But Louisa is determined to solve a murder no one else believes was committed, even if it means unraveling secrets that could shake Wilbeth Green to its core.

Find The Burning of Rosemont Abbey online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

5 October 2024

First Line Friday #359 | Wrapped Up In You by Jennifer Carr

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m quoting from Wrapped Up In You by new-to-me author Jennifer Carr.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About Wrapped Up In You

Wrapped Up in You is a heartwarming tale about breaking free from the expectations of others, finding love, and discovering that the best path is the one you create for yourself.

Find Wrapped Up In You online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

4 October 2024

Cover Reveal | Illuminary by Chawna Schroeder

I’m excited to join in the cover reveal for Illuminary by Chawna Schroeder releasing from Enclave Publishing in April 2025!

Isn’t that wonderful?

This first book in The Sceptre & the Stylus series, a YA fantasy trilogy, is available to preorder in hardcover today.

About Illuminary

Glimpse the past, illuminate the future.

Yosarai Patican dreams of becoming an illuminator in a country that values art above all else. A lofty goal that finally seems within reach when she earns a position at the prestigious Academy of the Seven Arts. Although Yosarai loathes to leave behind her quiet country life, she travels to the capital, determined to live up to her mother’s fame as one of Indel’s greatest artists.

Prince Xander never planned to become king. Indeed, he never wanted to become king. But when his father dies suddenly, he is thrust into the middle of coronation preparations—and assassination attempts. With everyone around him in increasing danger, Xander decides to hide in neighboring Indel until the time for him to be crowned king arrives.

Posing as an inventor struggling with aesthetics, Xander enlists Yosarai’s aid as part of his cover, but soon he suspects she knows more than she should. But when danger threatens and secrets are exposed, entering a competition reputed as cutthroat may be the only way for them to protect everything they hold dear.

Click here to Preorder on Amazon